Ferrari to gain advantage from maiden Madrid F1 filming day this week
Ferrari will drive the new Madrid circuit for the first time this week in a filming day.
Ferrari is set to gain an advantage this week over Formula 1 rivals by undertaking a filming day at the new Madrid venue that will host the Spanish Grand Prix later this season.
The new Madring circuit will join the calendar in September as the new host venue of the Spanish Grand Prix, taking that title away from the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.
Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc are both set to drive this year’s SF-26 at the Spanish Grand Prix circuit on Thursday (9 July) in what is officially known in the rules as a Promotional Event.
As on any such day, the team is allowed to complete 200km of running using Pirelli demo tyres rather than regular race rubber.
Teams are allowed two such days a year, and Ferrari deployed one at Monza earlier in the season.
However, the Madring track is not yet in its final fully FIA-homologated state, with one source close to the organisation telling Crash that it has “no kerbs, no garages nor pitlane finished. You could do a lap with a touring car; that is all.”
However, clearly Ferrari will be able to gain some useful information about the general layout and set-up requirements, and especially the trademark banked La Monumental corner.
However, the track’s incomplete nature, brand-new surface and the use of demo tyres are likely to be limiting factors.
Ferrari’s filming day at Madring will make it the first F1 team to sample the new circuit.
Though the track is in an unfinished state, it is a test that is likely to rankle some of its rivals.
Williams driver Carlos Sainz sampled the circuit in a road car for a promotional activity in May.
Ferrari heads to the Madrid filming day off of the back of its 250th victory in F1 at the British Grand Prix last weekend.
Charles Leclerc jumped polesitter Andrea Kimi Antonelli to dominate a chaotic race at Silverstone that ended under safety car conditions.
It was Leclerc’s first win of the season and ninth of his career.
Team-mate Hamilton scored pole in the sprint, but couldn’t match his team-mate’s pace in the grand prix.
Set to finish second after Antonelli’s late car issues, the safety car period at the end of the race saw him drop to third after Ferrari elected to pit both drivers.
This allowed George Russell to leap Hamilton for second by staying out.
In this article
Adam Cooper attended his first F1 race at Brands Hatch as a 10-year-old fan in 1976. He became a freelance journalist for Autosport magazine in 1985 while still at university, initially covering everything from club racing to the FIA World Sportscar Championship.
